Tuesday University Circle, Shoulder Check

[barton bourassa]

This morning I learned the absolute dead importance of a proper shoulder check before drifting right on the cirle. After causing some grief to the speedy A's, I realized that the best way to shoulder check to see if anyone is coming up on you is to look over the left shoulder rather than the right. On this circle as we are always curving left, a right shoulder check no matter how hard you twist your body around will not give you the field of vision that a left shoulder check will. So, as my mother always says, look both ways but over the left shoulder is best.

Peter, I will keep this in mind! Our little C group was so used to a nice quick and quiet ride around the circle! We had gone there to avoid the crowds that gather on the box! Well, I must and will pay greater attention to those speeding up behind me! Thanks,

Barton.

[John D]

Assuming that we continue riding the Ring on Tuesdays we should also establish a protocol for what to do after the sprint laps.

Case in point: on one of our non-sprint laps this morning, the B1 group caught the As (who had just finished a, no doubt epic , sprint) just after the stop sign where Henderson enters the Ring. Still recovering after their sprint, the As were soft-pedaling and had not yet reformed into full 2-up mode, whereas the B1 train was in 2-up mode and trying to accelerate. The result was a little bit of mayhem as the B1 group tried to ride around/through the As (and possibly the Cs), and ended up with Tripleshotters spread about 6 wide across both lanes of the Ring.

Given how many riders we have, perhaps post-sprint groups should pull into the right lane of the Ring after the stop sign (assuming it's safe to do so) until they re-group? Other suggestions?

J.

[Plawless]

I would actually suggest that the post sprint group stay as far LEFT as possible leavign the passing group to go around - basically an extension of the "hold your line" school of thought. If it were the other way I fear a later post sprinter would dodge right and WHAMO.

The key, as always, is for each of us to remember that the fact that we are "done" doesnt mean we can ride like a bag of cats. We need to stay together and be smart.

Peter

[JohnT]

While the people in front (for whatever reason - different group or just out of energy) can do a lot to make themselves easier to pass (and it doesn't hurt to remind them of that from time to time), it's the responsibility of the person passing to make sure it is safe to do so. Shoulder checking, as Barton discovered, can do more harm than good. A plan, like keep left, is good, but if you find yourself on the right as a group comes by, the best thing is to hold your line and leave the job of getting past to them.

JT